1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to inventory control using encoded temporary identification devices for managing an inventory of trackable units of one or more items via automatic data capture, especially garments or groups of garments in a laundry or drycleaning establishment.
A self contained inventory encoding unit is provided in a packet, for example comprising a fabric that is apt to survive repeated passes through processing and has at least one attachment structure. The packet is removably attachable to a garment, garment hanger, packaging for one or more items, or other similar trackable units, for managing movement of the associated item or items through one or more processing steps. The encoding unit preferably has a radio frequency responsive encoding element embedded in the packet, an optically readable identification tag such as a barcode on the surface of the packet, and can have human-readable encoding features such as an alphanumeric code. The packet carries codes that uniquely distinguish the packet from all others concurrently in use. Groups of packets forming distinct lots or the like can also have a distinct color, shape, word, symbol, etc., to associate them together in a non-unique manner, while distinguishing the group from other groups.
The data memory of the inventory control computer stores and correlates the respective codes for each tag with inventory control information concerning the trackable unit, such as its location, status, contents or the like. By sensing or entering the codes, information on the trackable units can be accessed in memory, namely to input, update and read out information. A unique encoding unit or packet is temporarily associated with each trackable unit in the computerized inventory control system, and is activated including by entering or sensing at least one such form of unique code. The code references or addresses the inventory control data on the trackable unit until the process is completed and the packet is removed, recovered for re-use and deactivated in the inventory control records.
2. Prior Art
The flow of inventory through a wide variety of businesses is routinely managed by tracking items in inventory using automatic data capture devices such as barcode scanners to sense codes on labels affixed to the items. The barcode comprises a series of parallel lines and spaces of different widths, forming a numeric or alphanumeric code which can be read by a scanner. The barcode, which for example can represent an identification code, an article description, a location, a process step or other data, is illuminated using a scanner. A reflectance signal is detected and fed to a receiver which determines the code or number associated with the barcode label for use by an inventory control computer.
The identity codes are stored in a computer memory and are correlated or "indexed" to other data relating to the labelled items. The stored data typically includes a description of the item, its present status or location, and/or may include various data values such as times, counts, summaries and other stored information that the computer adjusts as a function of its programming, when certain events occur and an identification code is scanned. For example with UPC product codes, the barcode represents a product type and the stored data includes a description and a price to be read out when a product code is scanned at a point of sale terminal. UPC codes are unique to a product type rather than unique to a particular item. In other environments unique encoding is used to distinguish a particular trackable item or set of items from all others.
A paper label or document can be affixed to the trackable item to carry its barcode, and potentially related barcodes as well as print information. For example, a package containing a number of items being sent to a customer from a warehouse inventory could have an adhesively affixed label bearing a barcode identifying the order, a number of barcodes identifying the items, and a shipping address for the customer. When the items are packed, the item barcodes are scanned for automatically decrementing the count of items in inventory, and for noting their change in location from inventory to shipping. Shelf locations can be barcoded as well, enabling the inventory records to be corrected as to the contents of particular shelves. When the package is completed and shipped, the barcode identifying the order is scanned to note passage of the package out the door. These and many other inventory control functions are available.
In general, barcodes provide an improvement over manual data entry in that scanning of barcodes is much more accurate than entering the same amount of data by manual keystrokes. Although a manual key entry may typically be erroneous one keystroke in 50, it has been reported that Code 39 barcode errors occur on the order of one in three million scans, each comprising a number of characters.
One drawback of barcoding is that the affixed barcode label must be in a position that is intersected by the optical scanning device or its data will not be found. Scanners are known that pass an illuminating beam repetitively through a range of positions and scanning angles. However, even those scanners cannot deal with a barcode label that is occluded, for example being located on a different wall of a carton or being provided on a loosely affixed label that happens to be turned backside out. For these reasons, labels that must be scanned automatically (as opposed to with a hand scanner) are typically affixed adhesively, and care is taken as to the position of the label on the package as well as the orientation of the package in transport.
In connection with laundry and drycleaning, it is known to heat seal a barcoded label into garments such as the collars of shirts to provide a serial number that can be scanned to identify the garment, the customer who presented the garment for cleaning, or a particular customer order (i.e., a transaction having one or several associated articles to be accepted, cleaned and returned to the customer in a group). The barcode is permanently attached and can be scanned before or after cleaning operations. If the barcode identifies the garment rather than the order, it is available for use if the garment is presented in a later transaction or order. However, barcodes affixed to garments are not always automatically scannable, and often must be found and scanned manually.
Similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. Re.33,054--Markman, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated, an order ticket having a barcode that is unique to the customer order is generated by the inventory control computer of a drycleaning operation or other establishment when descriptions of the garment(s) in the order are entered and printed on the ticket. The order ticket is merely paper and is not designed to survive a cleaning operation. The ticket is separated from the garments to which it refers, and attached to the finished order after the garments are assembled together into their original group.
Barcodes can be accompanied by information presented in another form. Barcodes are often printed together with human readable characters that represent the data contained in the barcode. In that case if a barcoded label cannot be scanned for whatever reason, it is possible for an attendant to manually enter the identification information for the barcode label. For example, the barcoded label of a grocery item may be ripped or smudged, making the barcode difficult to scan automatically. To obtain the price of the item from the inventory control system, the attendant can manually enter the code into the point of sale terminal, but this risks keystroke errors.
The accuracy and convenience of barcode data entry and its ability to trigger programmed operation of the inventory control computer all revolve around scanning of the barcode. Thus, the barcode must be undamaged, exposed and presented to the scanner in the proper position and orientation. Sometimes this is a problem. Another known way in which a data code can be automatically captured, which does not rely on presentation of an optical code, involves the attachment of radio frequency (RF) responders. Each responder has a unique response to irradiation by RF energy. For example the responder may reflect resonantly only at particular frequencies (e.g., as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,218,189--Hutchinson and 5,204,681--Greene) or may reflect with particular phase shifts relative to incident RF fields in a parallel or serial manner. The different responses of different encoded responders can form identification codes for inventory items and the like, in the same binary manner as with barcode. The responders can be made quite small, e.g., small enough for mounting in a personal identification card, and can be potted or encapsulated as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,757--Eberhardt et al., such that they can survive washing when sewn into the seam of a garment, towel or the like. The disclosures of the foregoing patents are also hereby incorporated.
RF responders normally require proximity to the source of RF radiation and the detector responsive to reflected energy, but do not rely upon orientation or exposure, as does visual scanning. The proximity requirement is in fact helpful because the RF illumination and detection device generally interacts only with one nearby RF tag in the case where trackable units are passing by sequentially one after another. Additional examples of radio frequency responders embedded in tags include U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,223--Blama and 4,851,815--Enkelmann, the disclosures of which are also incorporated herein for their teachings of electronic identification systems using RF responsive chips that under irradiation emit a signal that is translated into a digital signal used as a code to identify the particular tag and hence a particular item of inventory.
An RF irradiation/detection device used in a tracking station arranged to detect the passage of encoded items may have a typical range of 18 inches (45 cm). This presents a challenge with respect to garments, which typically have dimensions greater than that. If an RF tag is sewn into a seam in a remote part of a garment, there is a possibility that it may pass through the tracking station without being detected. Another drawback is that RF responders are more expensive than barcode labels. RF encoding may be impractically expensive in a situation in which every inventory item needs an RF tag sewn into it for tracking, but the tags go out of action whenever the items are returned to the custody of the customers. Sewing in RF encoding tags also may be impractical for many of the common drycleaning operations in which customers are irregular and/or many garments are presented for the first time. The operator would need to check each incoming garment for an RF tag and add tags to those that lack them. Whereas the tags are often encapsulated in glass, the operator may also need to constantly check incoming tagged garments as to whether the tags are intact.
One solution is to provide an RF tag that is only temporarily attached to the item. Thus the tag is removable from the item before the item leaves the premises and can be reused to identify a different item later. European Pat. No. 440306--Kroezen, discloses a reusable-tag RF tracking system for use in a laundry. Kroezen teaches attaching an RF chip encapsulated between facing covers forming a waterproof enclosure with a central hole. A fastener extends through the enclosure and pierces the fabric of a garment, for example through a shirt collar, before the garment is washed or drycleaned. A colored strip can be attached at the same time, to associate the garment with a particular lot. Kroezen removes the tag for reuse after washing is complete.
Kroezen relies only on the RF tag to provide an encoded identification means. If an RF tag is outside of reading range or becomes damaged and unreadable, or if the RF tag scanning equipment malfunctions, there is no backup way to remedy the fact. Neither the garment nor the tag exhibits any means by which the garment can be identified, except perhaps from the garment descriptions originally entered into the inventory records, which are typically quite terse (e.g., shirt/white, etc.). It will be necessary somehow to identify the garment to associate it with the customer order and to update the data in the inventory tracking system. This places the operator at the mercy of the RF tag reader and the RF tags. The business cannot operate as a practical matter until repairs are effected.
Garments bearing damaged tags can become undocumented phantom garments that are a problem for an operator processing many garments from many customers. Nothing about the garment or tag that shows that it is unreadable. No optical scanning or human readable code is provided to remedy unsuccessful attempts to read the RF tag or later identify the garment or correct the inventory records. If the inventory item cannot be identified a customer's order may be incomplete and the customer lost.
It would be advantageous to provide an inventory tracking and management apparatus which is reusable, which has at least one backup for the RF tags, which optimally packages RF and visual backup code bearing indicia for convenient temporary attachment to a garment or an order or their packaging, preferably without necessarily stapling or piercing the garment, and which is convenient, inexpensive and effective for inventory control.